Chapter 2

Dana

The loud crying that filled the hallway broke my heart. I quickly finished tying my scrubs and tugged my shirt over the top of my pants before jogging that way. Amanda Tarrington was one of my favorites on the floor, and I'd only been at the hospital for a few weeks. My internship with Memorial was turning out to be an overwhelming and eye-opening experience, if nothing else.

"It's okay. I'm right here, Mandy." The deep rumble of a male voice rolled over me as I stopped just inside the hospital room. Two nurses were standing on the far side of the bed, one giving the thrashing girl a shot while she wept loudly.

The handsome man leaning over the top of her had to be her brother. I'd yet to meet him, but the girls on the floor spend half the damn nights talking about how handsome and good-hearted he was. From what I could see from behind, handsome wouldn't exactly cover it.

I moved back out into the hall and took a shallow breath before turning and heading for the nurses’ station. I wouldn't be welcomed into the room with Amanda, though I knew I could settle her down without the use of sedation. I'd spent a lot of my time in her room, singing to her, talking to her... just being there. It fulfilled her need to have company and mine to take care of someone who was so beyond undeserving of the shitty card life had handed her.

"Dana. Come over here and tell me what this dosage is. I can't read this doctor's chicken scratch handwriting to save my life." Jackie handed me the clipboard as I paused in front of her. She was the other intern from UT Dallas, and we got along great, but fuck was I intimidated by her. Long blond hair, ruby red lips and the figure of Marilyn Monroe. I, on the other hand, was short, curvy and a little overweight.

"It's twenty milligrams." I handed her the clipboard back and turned to watch one of the nurses walk out of Amanda's room. "What happened with Mandy?"

"She's not getting any movement in her arms today." Jackie shook her head as her expression fell. "I swear MS has to be one of the worst fucking diseases on the planet."

"Agreed." I let out a soft sigh and picked up the clipboard with my rounds on it. The hardest part about working in the hospital was going to be my empathetic nature. I wanted to cure and heal everyone, which led me to believe that maybe my life would take a drastic turn after graduating from UT the next spring. Maybe that wouldn’t be the end of my education, but instead the beginning. Maybe med school was next.

I glanced up as Tinsley walked up to the nurses’ station, shaking her head.

"I swear I hate to see that girl in pain, but having her sexy-ass brother come running each time is almost worth it." She snorted. "He is honestly the hottest guy I've seen in years. I'm going to give him my number."

"What?" I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Amanda being in pain was worth it because her brother came running every time something happened? How fucked up was that? "I don't think that's very professional."

"Right, and no one asked you, did they?" She gave me a cocky grin and tapped the tip of my nose with her finger. "Keep your lips closed and get your ass in gear. People are close to death around here and need their meds. That's all you, intern."

I forced the anger burning inside my chest to dissipate enough that I could breathe past it. She wasn't the only bitch in the group of nurses I was being forced to work with, but the head bitch for sure. I gathered the supplies I needed and started down the sterile hall in front of me. An odd peace settled on my shoulders as I started to stop by each room, greeting the patients and offering a little bit of hope where I could.

I saved my favorite for the last. Mr. Jackson. The grumpiest old man on the whole damn floor.

"Morning, Mr. Jackson." I checked the chart and picked up the small cup of pills before walking toward him.

"Morning yourself, fruit fly," he grumbled and covered his mouth with his hands, shaking his head.

"Come on, now. You know this will make you feel better. It always does." I reached out and brushed my fingers along his hand.

"Stop hitting on me. It's sexual harassment."

"But you’re cute." I lifted my eyebrow and tried hard not to smile.

"This is true." He dropped his hands and took the cup from me. "You know these damn pills make me have to piss like a fire hydrant, right?"

"Fire hydrants don't piss." I tilted my head to the side as a smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. He was close to ninety and still giving everyone hell every chance he got.

"You kids nowadays have no damn imagination." He huffed and popped the pills into his mouth, chewing them and swallowing. He grunted and leaned back. "Those taste like shit."

I couldn't help but laugh. He said the same thing every day, did the same thing, and yet I wasn't able to keep my composure.

"Why don't you just swallow them with water like everyone else?" I took the cup from him and poured him a cup of water, which he refused.

"I need to know what's in them. If I don't chew them, I don't know." He shrugged and tugged his covers up toward his throat. "Now, get out. I'm in the middle of my favorite show."

I glanced back at the TV to find it off. "I love this one too."

"Silly girl. There's nothing on." He rolled his eyes and waved me off.

"Old people nowadays... no imagination." I turned and walked out to the sound of him cackling.

"I like you, kid. Stick around?" His voice followed me into the hall.

"I plan to," I mumbled under my breath before dropping off my tray and walking out to the smoke break area. Where I didn't smoke, I still took a few ten minute breaks to get some fresh air and clear my head. I moved out onto the patio at the back of the hospital and pulled out my phone. Olivia would be at lunch, which meant I had a few minutes to catch up with my best friend.

"Hey!" The sound of her voice caused me to release a breath I didn't realize I was holding.

"Hey. How are you?" I found a bench on the side of the hospital under several large shade trees. September in Dallas meant it was still hot as hell. Summer had very little respect for fall or even winter some years.

"I'm good. I was just thinking about your offer to come visit." I let my eyes move across the bright green and blues that accented each other beautifully in front of me.

"New York in the summer isn't much better than Texas, I'm afraid." She chuckled. "But... I would love to have you anytime you want to come."

"I'm thinking around Christmas unless you're coming back here to see your mom."

"I'm not sure what I'm going to do just yet. There is still a little bit of hope around Luke giving me a ring sometime soon." She huffed loudly.

"You don't even like him."

"Yes I do."

"Liar. You haven't sounded happy since high school and you know it." I smiled at the memories we had from high school. Growing up sucked seeing that it took away your excuse for being a relationship-idiot. I was still floundering around on the topic of making a relationship work. It would seem I was handicapped in that area, as I'd always been.

"Don't start this again. Luke and I are going to get married eventually. It just works."

"It? What's it?"

"Him and me together." She cleared her throat. "Enough about me... how are things at the hospital? You started your internship, right?"

"Yeah." I glanced back as the door opened and three nurses I didn't know walked out. "It's good. I love the work and the patients. The nurses are bitches, but I guess that happens to some people after years of working around misery. There has to be some way to protect yourself from feeling too much."

"I can see how you might get emotionally wasted by it day after day."

"I love it here." I stood up and lifted my free hand to the sky, stretching.

"And what about Cameron? How's that going?"

"Ugh," I groaned and let my hand drop. "We're still together, but it's more like roommates who are borderline tired of each other. If he mentions me going to the gym one more time, I'm likely to drop-kick him in the balls."

"Ouch. He's still doing that shit?"

"Yes, and the other day, he packed me a bag of carrots and grapes for lunch." I shook my head and walked back toward the hospital.

"Just carrots and grapes?" She laughed.

"Yes. Obviously I need to shave. I look like a fucking bunny rabbit to him." I rolled my eyes and tried to ignore the glares I got from the three women puffing away to my left. Why everyone had to dump on the interns was beyond me. It would have made more sense that they support and help those of us just starting our careers, but that wasn't at all the experience I'd been given.

"You need to drop him, Dana."

"Maybe, but being lonely is worse than being chastised all the time, or at least today it still is." I figured when I got fed up with Cameron's not so subtle hints about me losing weight that I would either lose the weight or tell him to fuck off. One or the other was soon to happen with the way things were going lately.

"Come here to New York when you graduate in May. We can get an apartment together and-"

"You're getting married, silly." I pushed the door open and walked into the coolness of the hospital. "I gotta go. I'll call you later. Go make some money in that big investment firm you're sure to be running soon."

"All right. Call me later though. It's all going to work out."

"I agree. I just wish I could see around the edges of what's to come so I could prepare a little better."

"Where is the fun in that?"

"Very true. Love you." I dropped the call, slipped my phone back into my pocket and turned the corner to hear Amanda cry out again. The sound of her wailing filled the hall. "What the hell?"

I jogged toward the open door, wondering why the sedatives didn't calm her down, but then again it was my assumption that she'd been given a sedative and not something else. I walked in to find Jackie standing on the other side of the bed, her face pale, eyes wide.

Amanda's brother was bent over the bed, rubbing her long brown hair back and trying to soothe her with his promise that everything would be okay, but it wouldn't... it couldn't...

"Move," I mumbled to Jackie and took her spot on the other side of the thrashing girl. She was a year younger than me, but she looked ten years older. "Amanda. Look at me."

I reached out and gripped her chin, turning her and forcing her to look at me.

"Hey. Be careful with her." Her brother's voice was sharp, condescending.

I ignored him and smiled down at her. "Remember what we talked about yesterday? Old Mr. Jackson?"

She panted as her eyes moved about wildly, but she stopped thrashing for a minute.

Releasing the tight hold I had on her, I leaned down and pressed my elbows to the bed beside her, leaning my chin on my balled up fists. "You should have seen him this morning. He chewed up those damn pills again."

Her brother took a few steps back and let out a shaky breath. I wanted to glance up and get a good look at him, but she needed me to remain locked on her for a little while longer.

"No w-w-water?" She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as tears spilled down into her hair. "I'm scared."

"I know, sweetheart." I leaned forward and pressed my forehead to the side of her head like I would do my older sister when life had dealt her a shitty blow. "I'm right here, though. Your brother is here, the nurses are here, hell, old man Jackson is still here. We're not going anywhere."

A soft sob left her, and I glanced up and locked eyes with her brother, motioning for him to come closer.

He moved in and bent over, wrapping her in a tight hug and tucking her face into the side of his neck as she cried softly. The moment wasn't mine to have, so I moved back and wiped my eyes before moving out of the room. I wasn't sure I'd seen a more stunning man in my life.

Messy brown hair, strong shoulders, sensual lips and deep green eyes. My heart fluttered in my chest as I pressed my back to the closed door.

Of course he was gorgeous... As if I needed another thing to fantasize about. As if I had a choice now.